“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Colossians 3:1-3 NLT
Another year is coming to a close and a new year will begin in a few days. I am quite thankful for the year 2018 as God has taught Mikaela and me a lot through his Word, prayer, our marriage, from fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, support raising, community, creation, and much more.
Over the past few years I have seen a trend in perspective that I see or hear from people talking about how the present year(s) they look at as failing them and look towards the New Year with hope that it will be better than the present year. Then once the New Year they were looking towards with positivity fails them, they look forward to the next year in hoping that it will be better. Also the hope in the New Year’s resolutions that we tend to make and I myself failing at keeping all of them, haha.
I believe that culturally we look at the New Year as a fresh start, a reset button as it were, to be bolder or to move past things that weighed us down. I have been in several groups whether it be a faith or non-faith setting where a speaker ask for a show of hands in how many of us made New Year’s resolutions. Inevitably over half of the group will raise their hands (including myself at times) and to which the speaker ask for a show of hands in how many have kept their New Year’s resolutions? To which, only a sparse show of hands go up as I keep my hand down.
“But now, O Jacob, listen to the one who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”
What happened? The hope of starting fresh and new? The New Year has barely begun, but in our eyes it has already failed us and so we go through the motions waiting for the next year to roll around to again hope for a better year. However, we can always start fresh with God every day. We don’t have to wait to put our hope in the New Year with the plans that we make that will likely fail us, when we can put our hope in a God that never fails. In Luke 1 we read of when the angel Gabriel comes to Mary to foretell of the birth of Jesus and the last thing Gabriel says to Mary is this, “For the word of God will never fail” (Luke 1:37 NLT). Jesus himself also says in Matthew 24, “Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear” (Matt. 24:35 NLT). By this, we can conclude that Jesus’ words are as guaranteed as God’s own. Even a psalmist, thought to be David, wrote in Psalm 33, “For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does” (Psalm 33:4 NIV).
God is indeed faithful in all He does, even though at times we will not comprehend what this entirely consist of, I know as His creation I can put my faith and hope in Him as the Creator in every season of life, in every year of life. The Bible, God’s word, invites us to understand and know of His character and His power. God seeks to be known by His creation as He is a hope that never fails.
“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”
Romans 5:3-5 NLT
“For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”
2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NLT
Best Regards, Derrick Shipley